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SKY Arts

Variety

Off Camera(Series 7)

Thursdays 10pm from 14 February

Live From The Artists Den (Series 11)

Sunday Nights from 17 February

Subito: Instant Photography

Friday 22 February 8.30pm

SKY ARTS

Channel 020

Tune in to the best arts and cultural television from New Zealand and around the world.

Fascinating documentaries on artists, writers, dancers, musicians and moreIntelligent interviews with the stars of stage and screenIn-depth shows on modern and classical art, architecture and designA wide range of concerts from classical to rock, pop, jazz, soul and the bluesStimulating programmes examining popular fiction, classic novels and poetryInspiring performances of contemporary dance, ballet, opera and theatreSKY ARTS is proud to support New Zealand Arts, so look out for more home grown arts programmes made by local artists and filmmakers.

Exhibition On Screen: Canaletto

Saturday 19 January 8.45pmChannel 020

An immersive journey into the life and art of Venice’s famous view-painter. No artist better captures the essence and allure of Venice than Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto.

The remarkable group of over 200 paintings, drawings and prints on display offer unparalleled insight into the artistry of Canaletto and his contemporaries, and the city he became a master at capturing.

The film also offers the chance to step inside two official royal residences – Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle – to learn more about the artist, and Joseph Smith, the man who introduced Canaletto to Britain.

The fast-moving, beautifully shot series offers viewers a fully immersive experience in hearing, reading, and interpreting a single American poem. Scholar Elisa New opens a conversation about poetry and encourages viewers at home to extend the discussion past the episode’s end.

Kids On The Silk Road

Tuesdays 7pmChannel 020

15 countries along the colourful ancient Silk Road, 15 children aged 11-14 years old give an insight into their lives and their challenges. A documentary series told from the children’s perspective, delving into rich cultural portraits and addressing universal issues of growing up.

The Art Of Museums

Tuesdays 8.30pmChannel 020

Blurring the boundaries between entertainment and high culture, this series takes the viewer into a fine selection of world’s most renowned museums. Artists from all genres present their iconic masterpieces with a very personal touch, contextualized by art historian and popular professor of culture Matt Lodder.

Baroque Treasures: Ospedale To Concordia

Wednesday 6 February 9pmChannel 020

This year's Easter concert performed by the Vienna Bach Consort promises to be more than just an artistic pleasure. Step into the footsteps of the music experts of the 18th century: performed in the Klosterneuburg basilica and experience works that Antonio Vivaldi composed for the Ospedale to be sung by the girls growing up there, in the church services of the Santa Maria della Pieta.

Civilisations

Mondays 8.30pm from 11 FebruaryChannel 020

This genre-defining series explores the global history of art as the driving force for civilisation. Specialist filming techniques capture the majestic scale of the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia, and pick out the exquisite detail of Michelangelo’s Basilica of St Peter. Until now, these illuminating creations have been remote. Now you can immerse yourself in their awe-inspiring craftsmanship, as great masterpieces are brought closer and made clearer than ever before. An epic blockbuster, Civilisations shows how art defines the human experience. It’s a story of passion and struggle, introducing a new generation to classic works created across the continents.

I Am (Series 1)

Thursdays 9.30pm from 14 FebruaryChannel 020

I AM tells the stories of people who put their reason for being in art. The story of the creative process takes the traits of social and identity affirmation, following the motivations and urgency that lead the artist to express themselves.

I AM tells about fragments of life, sacrifices, disappointments, emotions, conflicts and resolutions, focusing the narration on the works and character of the protagonist, on his story and on the context in which he moves. I AM is the story of an artist.

Off Camera (Series 7)

Thursdays 10pm from 14 FebruaryChannel 020

Off Camera delves into the lives of some of Hollywood’s hottest talent, as photographer/director Sam Jones hosts interviews with a myriad of some the world’s most recognised artists. Stepping away from the spotlight, each celebrity opens up about some of those deeper questions that leave us wondering. This series Sam is in conversation with: Rachel Bloom, Aaron Paul, Ricky Carmichael, Eiljah Wood, David Oyelowo, Kenneth Lonergan, Sam Richardson, Gillian Jacobs, Jerrod Carmichael, Maggie Siff, Hank Azaria, Courteney Cox, Jenny Slate, Freida Pinto, Matt Walsh and Ron Howard.

Live From The Artists Den (Series 11)

Sunday Nights from 17 FebruaryChannel 020

The critically acclaimed concert series provides an intimate music experience with ground-breaking and inspiring artists. The 11th season features Panic! At The Disco at the Mayan Theatre (Los Angeles), Young The Giant at the El Rey (Los Angeles), Sturgill Simpson at the Broad Street Ballroom in New York City’s financial district (New York) as well as The Lumineers at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn (New York).

Hidden Italy

Thursday Nights from 21 FebruaryChannel 020

From tranquil rivieras in Liguria, to hidden country retreats near Caprarola, the ancient town of Anagni to the flower gardens of Trieste, visit an Italy you never knew existed. Watch the sunset over the golden limestone towns of Sicily, and discover lost Renaissance frescos hidden away in beautiful cathedrals on the vacation of a lifetime.

Subito: Instant Photography

Friday 22 February 8.30pmChannel 020

Polaroid – a fantastic invention bordering on magic! The history of a cultural phenomenon, between the poles of art, pop culture and technology, that emerged in the middle of the last century and whose impact can still be felt today.

Murillo’s Last Journey

Saturday 23 February 7.45pmChannel 020

The Sevillian Baroque master painter Bartolome Esteban Murillo, underwent a calculated spoliation that scattered most of his work around the world’s top museums. Enrique Valdivieso, an Art History guru with expertise in 17th century paintings; Guillaume Kientz, curator of the Louvre Museum; and Gabriele Finaldi, director of the National Gallery of London, they all will counterweigh his figure with that of his comrade Velazquez, witnessing the round trip from Paris to Seville by one of his most celebrated pieces: “The young beggar”.

The Ballad Of Shirley Collins

Saturday 23 February 9pmChannel 020

Widely regarded as the 20th century’s most important singer of English traditional song, Shirley Collins is someone who was born to invoke the old songs.

Alongside her sister Dolly, Shirley stood at the epicentre of the folk music revival during the 1960s and 1970s. But in 1980, in traumatic circumstances, she was robbed her of her unique singing voice and forced her into early retirement.

Counterpointing the film’s contemporary journey with a more literal one taken from the opposite end of Shirley’s life, The Ballad Of Shirley Collins also proves itself to be something of a time-travelling Transatlantic road-movie – lovingly retelling the story of her seminal 1959 ’Southern Journey’ song-collecting trip around America’s rural Deep South alongside her then-lover (and legendary ethnomusicologist) Alan Lomax. A trip that took them into neglected rural communities, both black and white, that were about to be forever changed by the burgeoning Civil Rights movement. They uncovered and documented a peerless document of traditional American music – one that would later inspire the soundtrack to the Coen Brothers’ film O Brother Where Art Thou.

Deliberately eschewing a straightforward biopic approach, this is a lyrical response to the life-and-times of a totemic musical figure. Granted intimate access to recording sessions for Shirley’s first album (Lodestar) of new recordings in almost four decades, the film also features contributions from the comedian Stewart Lee, Appalachian singer Sam Amidon, and David Tibet of Current 93.

What emerges is a meditative and carefully textured piece of portraiture. Here then is a story about one woman’s battle to rise again from long silent ashes. A film about loss and redemption. A film about sacrifice, healing and rebirth. A film which suggests that, during these turbulent and increasingly untethered times, we might just need Shirley Collins and all she represents more than ever.

Bachman & Turner: Roseland Ballrom NYC

Sunday 24 February 9pmChannel 020

Randy Bachman and C.F. “Fred” Turner were the core members of Bachman-Turner Overdrive throughout their commercial heyday in the seventies, sharing duties on the lead vocals with Bachman contributing lead guitar and Turner the bass. Between them they also composed the vast majority of the band’s many hit singles. Reuniting at the end of 2009 they released an eponymous album in 2010 and in November of that year they performed at the famous Roseland Ballroom in New York City as part of their North American tour.

Symphony In Three Movements

Monday 25 February 8pmChannel 020

Using a symphony in ballet is a 20th century innovation. In Poklitaru’s production, one can see a plot with a beginning, peripeteia and denouement. The images conceived by the choreographer blend together with Stravinsky’s idea the composer admitted that the third movement of his Symphony was a response to documental chronologies of the war years with lines of marching soldiers.

Musical direction: Valery Gergiev. Choreography: Radu Poklitaru.

Wonders Of Men

Tuesday 26 February 10.30pmChannel 020

Entering a sacred monument is never an unremarkable experience.

Whether a place of worship for Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists, the buildings all tend to be architecturally magnificent. And behind the stone, brick, or marble facades are hidden stories of titanic construction sites where brilliant architects, builders and artists came together... From the West to the Far East, these monuments are the concrete witnesses of men's beliefs and of their desire to excel, as well as reminders of their will for political dominance.

This series, set in the present day, is about discovering some of the world’s most beautiful and sacred monuments, from Italy to Hungary via France, and on to India, Tunisia and even Myanmar. During each episode we spend a day, from sunrise to sunset, at one of the monuments and learn about its history and architecture, as well as the rituals practiced there, and the people who take care of it.

RCO: 2018 Opening: Kissin

Wednesday 27 February 7.15pmChannel 020

RCO Opening Night is the festive opening of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s new season in the company of loyal audience members and new friends. The fourth RCO Opening Night in the history of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is led by Thomas Hengelbrock. Pianist Evgeny Kissin, without a doubt one of the biggest piano players of our time – some say a living legend – is returning to the Concertgebouw Orchestra for the first time since 1994. He is playing the solo in Liszt’s First Piano Concerto. This concert, suffused with the spirit of Romanticism, opens with Berlioz’s concert overture Le Carnaval Romain with its beautiful English horn solo. Mendelssohn’s passionate ‘Italian’ symphony is flanked by works from beloved Italian operas, with several more musical surprises to follow.